E-Mail IMAGE: At the COSMIC Microscopy beamline, researchers probed the oxidation state of the chemical element cerium using scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) under operando conditions. It was a first demonstration of... view more Credit: Chungnam National University COSMIC, a multipurpose X-ray instrument at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's (Berkeley Lab's) Advanced Light Source (ALS), has made headway in the scientific community since its launch less than 2 years ago, with groundbreaking contributions in fields ranging from batteries to biominerals. COSMIC is the brightest X-ray beamline at the ALS, a synchrotron that generates intense light - from infrared to X-rays - and delivers it to dozens of beamlines to carry out a range of simultaneous science experiments. COSMIC's name is derived from coherent scattering and microscopy, which are two overarching X-ray techniques it is designed to carry out.